An evolutionary approach to sign language emergence: From state to process

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• The emergence of language from nonlinguistic states is a fundamental question in cognitive science.
• Gesture, sign, and speech are key modalities in understanding language origins.
• Current research often categorizes these modalities by linguistic status, potentially limiting explanatory power.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a shift in focus from the linguistic status of gesture, sign, and speech to the underlying processes that shape them.
• To explain the interrelationships between gesture, sign, and speech.
• To contribute to the understanding of how language evolves.

Main Methods:

• This study is primarily theoretical, proposing a conceptual framework.
• It involves analyzing the functional and developmental relationships between different communicative modalities.
• The approach emphasizes process-oriented analysis over static categorization.

Main Results:

• A process-focused approach offers a more robust explanation for the connections between gesture, sign, and speech.
• This framework helps elucidate how these systems interact and influence each other during development and evolution.
• Shifting focus from 'linguistic' to 'process' provides deeper insights into language emergence.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the dynamic processes underlying gesture, sign, and speech is crucial for explaining their relationship.
• This perspective advances the study of language evolution by focusing on developmental and functional mechanisms.
• A process-based framework is more effective for investigating the origins and evolution of human language.